Will pressure Centre to withdraw Dam Safety Bill, assures CM

Observing that the Dam Safety Bill proposed by the Centre was not favourable to the State, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Saturday assured the Assembly that all steps would be taken to exert pressure on the Centre to withdraw it.

Replying to a Special Call Attention motion given notice of by the Opposition DMK and others, he said he had been continuously urging the Centre to withdraw the same and cited various letters written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, memorandums handed over to him and the protests by AIADMK MPs in Parliament.

He said the Dam Safety Bill was not favourable as Tamil Nadu has to be dependant on neighbouring states for maintenance of the dams, which were owned by Tamil Nadu by located in other states.

He said the serious concerns of Tamil Nadu have not been addressed at all by the Centre and a bill has now been introduced in the Lok Sabha without considering the views, comments of the State governments.

Recalling the letters written to him and the resolution passed in the State Assembly in this regard, the Chief Minister said he had urged Modi not to legislate the act on dam safety till such time all the States were consulted and consensus was evolved.

Tamil Nadu’s main concerns were that the 1st provision under Section 23(1) of the Dam Safety Bill, 2018, specifies that where the specified dam in one State was owned by another State, then the National Dam Safety Authority would act as the State Dam Safety Organization for that particular dam.

“This implies that the dam owning State would have no rights over the safety and maintenance of the dam located in another State,’’ he said and pointed out that Tamil Nadu’s Mullaiperiyar, Parambikulam, Thunakkadavu and Peruvaripallam dams are owned, operated and maintained by the Tamil Nadu government by virtue of inter-state agreements, but were located in a neighbouring State.

“Therefore, to deny Tamil Nadu the right to be the Dam Safety Authority with regard to these four dams and vesting the powers to the National Dam Safety Authority would tantamount to encroaching on the rights of Tamil Nadu which is unconstitutional’’, he said.